A MAN who repeatedly breached a restraining order by contacting his ex-girlfriend has been told he has to come to terms with the freedom people have ‘to engage in or end a relationship.’
Lee Jones’s attempts to ‘manipulate the feelings’ of his former partner Joanne Hughes landed him with an 18-week prison sentence when he appeared at Warwick Crown Court.
Jones (31) of Emily Smith House, Bell Green, Coventry, had pleaded guilty to charges of breaching a restraining order and also admitted being in breach of a suspended sentence.
Prosecutor Rupert Jones said Jones’s relationship with Miss Hughes had ended in the summer of 2016.
Shortly after that, he damaged her car, which resulted in him appearing at Coventry Crown Court in May last year when he was given a suspended sentence and the restraining order was imposed.
But he breached the order just three weeks later on June 7 last year when he called Miss Hughes at around 11pm to say to her: “Hi, are you alright?”
She hung up and blocked the phone, but he tried to call her another 21 times that night.
A fortnight later he called again, immediately saying: “Sh*t, sorry, sorry, I won’t ring back again.” But he did, making nine unanswered calls to her in the early hours of the morning.
The police were contacted, but when he was arrested on August 5, he claimed her complaints were false, and was released pending further enquiries.
“But on October 14 he made another tranche of calls, one of which was answered by her sister, who told him to stop calling.”
Ignoring that, his calls continued in the early hours of the following day, and when Miss Hughes answered one of them, he told her: “I love you, I don’t care about the police.”
When he was arrested, Jones denied making the calls, and when one which had been recorded was played to him, he accepted it may have been his voice and that he may have called her when he was drunk.
Lucinda Wilmott-Lascelles, defending, said the calls had been made because Jones had found it hard to accept the break-up of the relationship, but they were not of a threatening nature.
She said he now accepted the situation, and no longer had any feelings for her and had moved on, and has a new girlfriend.
Jailing Jones, deputy judge Richard Griffith-Jones told him: “You must come to terms with the freedom all people have to engage in or end a relationship.
“There is a further feature that you have also failed to understand – that this order was made by the court, and the breaches were many.
“It is impossible to overlook. Your purpose was to manipulate her feelings. Your counsel has made well-made submissions, but there will be a prison sentence today.”
